Kavi Neeraj :: Fond remembrances on his birthday!

Today is the birthday of Kavi Neeraj, the legendary Hindi film lyricist. Respected and regarded that he is from my perspective, I append few aspects of him, all thanks to Google.

- Neeraj, the pen name is famous in film Circles; his original name was Gopaldas Saxena.

- It is understood that Neeraj once approached Shankar with three pages of poetry. Shankar didn’t know what to do with it. In those days, composers had established their dominance on lyricists and Shankar was known to be irritable but it didn’t mean he didn’t bow down because the end result of three pages was “Likhe Jo Khat Tujhe”.

- He was a Professor of Hindi Literature in Dharma Samaj College, Aligarh until Dev Anand heard Kaarvaan guzarta...at a mushaira and told him that they will work together— a promise that Anand kept.

- He invited Neeraj to Mumbai in the early 60s and introduced him to SD Burman, who was working on the movie Prem Pujari at that time. The rest as they say is history.

- On this invitation to Bombay, Kavi Neeraj recounted in an interview : "He put me in luxurious hotel in Santa Cruz and paid me Rs.1000 even before signing me. Next day he took me to S.D. Burman, who showed apprehensions about a poet’s ability to write to tunes and a given situation. Dev Anand said that he should not worry. He should give the tune and if Neeraj failed he would remain his guest for six days and enjoy Bombay. Burman da gave me a tune and said the song should start with ‘Rangeela Re’ and it is about a girl who sees her beloved coming to a party with another girl. It should have elements of frustration in love, jealousy and satire. I worked the whole night and came up with “Rangeela Re Tere Rang Main Yun Ranga Hai Mera Mann, Chhaliya Re” Next day he went to Dev Anand’s office and showed what he had written. After reading it, he embraced Neeraj and exclaimed how he could do it in one night. He immediately took me to Burman da’s home and proudly presented me to him and said: See, I told you, Neeraj has done it. When Burman da listened to it he said ‘Dev you go, now we will sit together.’ After he left, Burman da admitted that he gave me this complex situation to make me give up."

- He abruptly stopped writing poems for films at the peak of his popularity. Instead, he chose to write and publish them in books.

The reason why he quit writing songs for films is strange: he considers himself unlucky. The reason for this mentioned by him was that at least two or three prominent music directors of Hindi film industry expired whom he had worked for. He draws examples of Jaikishan of the music duo Shankar-Jaikishan as well as of S D Burman. The deaths of these music directors when they were at the peak of their popularity, left him very depressed and he made a decision to quit the film industry.

Some of his masterpieces are:

Aye Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo – Mera Naam Joker

Dhiire se jaanaa khatiyan me – Chuppa Rustam

Dil aaj shayar hai, gum aaj nagma hai, shab yeh ghazal hai sanam - Gambler

Karwan Guzar Gaya Gubar Dekhte Rahe – Nayi umar ki nayii fasal

Khilte Hain Gul Yahan, Khilke Bikharne Ko – Sharmilee

Maine kasam Li – Tere Mere Sapne

Meghaa chhaye aadhee raat bairan ban gayee nindeeyaa – Sharmilee

Mera maan tera pyaasa – Gambler

Phoolon ke rang se – Prem Pujari

Rangeela re – Prem Pujari

Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaaye, Phoolon Ka Shabaab – Prem Pujari